Police Scotland unveils its 10-year digital plan

The Scottish Police Authority (SPA) has approved a new Police Scotland 10-year digital transformation plan to bring the “country’s police forces into the 21st century”.

The plan for a major investment in Police Scotland’s digital, data and ICT capability sets out the funding required to modernise the service and bring improvements for the wider criminal justice system.

The business case was developed as part of the work to implement a multiyear strategy to meet the future demands on policing. It sets out a route map for change, together with detailed plans for how “the current ageing digital, data and ICT systems will be replaced and dramatically improved.”

Police Scotland announced that the total estimated costs over a nine year period would be £244m of additional capital expenditure and £54m of revenue expenditure. This compares with an estimated cost of £90m over the same time period to maintain the existing outdated IT systems.

The plans aims to “transform the way the public and police communicate and will enhance Police Scotland’s ability to tackle and prevent crime.”

The improvements will be delivered in phases, beginning with the rollout of mobile devices to police officers across Scotland.

Speaking after the Board meeting, Susan Deacon, chair of the SPA said, “These plans will drive much needed strategic transformation and change which will ensure that policing in Scotland is fit for purpose and fit for the future.”

Deacon added, “This is a robust piece of work, supported by a significant increase in capacity and capability within Police Scotland and by external expert advice and scrutiny. Lessons have also been learned from the experience of other large scale ICT programmes in Scotland and elsewhere. The SPA Board is fully supportive of the direction of travel and will now focus on working with Police Scotland and others to ensure that these much needed improvements are delivered effectively.”

An outline business case showed that

“Many of IT systems are out of date, are not joined up and cannot be upgraded”.

“They cannot share with or receive timely information from partners agencies which would significantly help the victim of a crime or a vulnerable member of the public – and this can result in officers spending hours trying to find the right partner agency and person to speak to.”

Deputy Chief Constable Fiona Taylor said, “There has been significant under-investment in technology in policing since well before 2013 and we’ve not been able to make use of some of the investment that has been available. Despite this, our officers and staff have continued to deliver to the best of their ability by making huge personal commitments to get the job done. But the present situation is unsustainable. The pressure on our officers and staff to work around the failings in our technology and meet the new threats will move beyond their ability to cope.”

“It also has a detrimental impact on the public and our colleagues in other parts of the criminal justice system. At a time when the pressure on public services is immense, we are operating an economically inefficient police service”, Taylor said.

She added, “The business case features a number of projects that have already been put in place by other police services in the UK and around the world. It is proven technology that Police Scotland needs now. We’ll give our officers mobile devices and access to integrated and up-to-date information on the move, allowing them to spend more time in the communities they serve. We’ll also give them better technology to capture evidence, speeding up the criminal justice system and making the process simpler for the public.”

“It will allow us to improve the way we safeguard, manage and share data, helping to reduce the overall cost of the criminal justice system and improving the service to the public. We’ll make it easier for the public to report crime to us, using online services to close the gap between the police and the people who need our help. And it will allow our officers to serve the public, enabling them to work on crime prevention and community-based policing to keep people safe, whether in the public, private or virtual space”, she said.

It was anticipated that the timing and phasing of specific investments, which will each be subject to further SPA scrutiny and approval, will be “influenced by the levels of funding available, procurement timescales, and other factors”.

Just over two years ago, the SPA announced it had mutually agreed to end a contract with Accenture relating to the i6 project following a detailed review of the programme. The project was designed to develop a new operational system for policing.

A subsequent review by Audit Scotland did not find there was a single reason why the project failed. But it partly blamed the project’s adoption of the waterfall method of project development and also said that despite an 18-month competitive dialogue process, there was a fundamental disagreement between Police Scotland and Accenture, the winning bidder, about the interpretation of the contract and the scope of the programme.